


Revival

by PhoenixAccio



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Cyborg Samuel Rodrigues, M/M, being made into a cyborg can be very traumatic! sam will worry about this Not Now, blade wolf is happy to see his buddy again :), im sad he died so im fixing it, kev and raiden live together, listen i just need raiden to have a healthy relationship for once. like at least one. please, raiden's civilian body, sam is a little asshole to Cope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28079253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixAccio/pseuds/PhoenixAccio
Summary: Raiden never gets calls in the middle of the night, so he figures whatever's going on, it must be important.Sometimes Raiden hates being right.
Relationships: Raiden/Kevin Washington
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Revival

There were a lot of advantages to having a Codec inside your brain. Being woken up by beeping directly in your ear at three in the goddamn morning was not one of them. It usually wasn't an issue, since nobody who even _could_ contact him through it needed him this late at night, but Raiden was seriously regretting not ever implimenting any way to put the thing on silent. 

It was probably important, though, if whoever it was couldn't just wait until morning, so Raiden groaned and picked up the call. 

"Hello?" Raiden's voice was raspy with sleep as he spoke into the dark. 

"Raiden," came a low, metallic voice in response. 

"...Blade Wolf?" Raiden asked. "I haven't heard from you in forever. What's going on, are you okay?" 

"I am fine. There is something that may be of interest to you. Meet me at Sunny's offices, I would rather explain in person." 

Raiden unplugged the charging line from his back, rolling over onto it to stare up at the ceiling. He guessed he wasn't going to he getting any more sleep tonight. 

"I'll be there soon, Blade Wolf. See you then." 

"Thank you," Blade Wolf replied, and the call cut itself off. 

Raiden sighed and went to get dressed. 

\- 

Raiden pulled into the parking lot of Sunny's building, shutting off the car and making his way towards the gates. Not wanting to risk breaking the gate again, Raiden went straight for the buzzer. 

"Hey," Raiden said, looking into the camera. "Uh, it's Raiden, Blade Wolf wanted me to meet him here?" 

"Alright, come on in," came the security guard's voice from the speaker. The gate beeped and clicked before swinging open. 

Blade Wolf met Raiden in the lobby. 

"Raiden," he said in greeting. 

"Hey," Raiden replied. "What's going on?" 

Blade Wolf didn't speak until they'd entered a smaller office off the side of the lobby. Blade Wolf hopped up on a chair, making a quick circle before sitting down, long tail curling neatly around his feet. Raiden obligingly sat on a chair opposite him. 

"I recieved a call, earlier tonight," Blade Wolf said. "I thought it might be of interest to you." 

"A call?" Raiden frowned, confused. "From who?" 

"Jetstream Sam." 

In an impressive display of realism, Raiden's mouth went dry. 

"Sam? But he's-" 

"Dead. Yes. Which is why I called you, Raiden." 

"Shit, okay," Raiden said, processing. "Do you have a recording?" 

"All calls I recieve are recorded automatically," Blade Wolf confirmed. After a moment there came a few shifting clicks, and then a voice that was unmistakably Jetstream Sam's played from Blade Wolf's speakers. 

"Hey, Dog," came the voice, slightly metallic like Blade Wolf's own. "It- uh... It's Sam. Jetstream Sam. I... Uh, I need some help? Please? You were the only frequency I could remember. I'm sharing my location with you, please come find me. Bring blondie if you like, I don't care, just don't get too many people involved. I may or may not be in hiding right now?" 

Sam's recorded voice paused, and a quiet _thud_ could be heard in the background. 

"Shit, I need to go," Sam hissed. "Come find me. Fast. Please. Bye." 

The recording ended, cutting off the beginning of a shout. Raiden raised his eyebrows. 

"Shit," he said. 

"Yes. You see why I told you?" Bladewolf replied. 

"Uh, definitely," Raiden replied. "I assume by 'blondie' he didn't mean Courtney." 

"Jetstream Sam did not meet Courtney," Blade Wolf replied flatly. 

"No, he didn't," Raiden agreed. He frowned, then. "I don't think I've ever heard him sound like that before. He actually sounded..." 

"Upset?" Blade Wolf replied. "Yes. He does not usually show distress." 

Raiden rubbed his eyes, grateful for the coolness of the artificial skin. 

"I guess we better go get him then." 

"He may be attempting to trap us. It may not even be him," Blade Wolf said warningly, but Raiden shook his head. 

"If he is, at least we'll find out sooner rather than later. I'd rather know for sure what's going on." 

Blade Wolf nodded, satisfied, and flicked his tail. 

"I am sending his coordinates now." 

Sure enough, a set of coordinates pinged in the corner of Raiden's vision. Raiden nodded. 

"Alright, let's go," he said, standing and pulling his keys back out of his pocket. Blade Wolf hopped off his own chair and followed at Raiden's heels all the way to the car. 

\- 

They had been on the highway for a few hours when the call came in. This one wasn't over Codec, and when Raiden pulled up the video on the screen he was met with Kev's worried face. Shit. 

"Kev," Raiden said, trying to act casual. 

"Raiden!" Kev was smiling, but it was the vaguely hysterical smile he got when he was trying to be civil. "Where are you?" 

"Driving. I'm fine, Kev, I left a note," Raiden replied. 

"Yeah, I saw," Kev replied drily, producing a slip of paper from offscreen and clearing his throat. 

"'Going out. Important. I'm fine,'" he read from the paper, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Really reassuring, Raiden, thank you. Definitely makes me feel less like you're doing something stupid." 

"Look, I'm okay, Kev, seriously," Raiden argued. "Sorry I didn't wake you up or whatever, I didn't know how long I'd be and it was super early." 

Kev sighed, rubbing his face as he put the note back down. 

"It's fine, Raiden. Don't worry about it. Just... a little more detail would be nice next time." 

"Sorry," Raiden replied sincerely. "I didn't actually know any more than that. _Somebody,"_ Raiden tipped his head at Blade Wolf, "didn't want to tell me what he needed over the phone." 

"Hey!" Blade Wolf protested. "You know Codec isn't secure." 

"Yeah, I know," Raiden conceded, rolling his eyes. Kev, on the screen, laughed. 

"I'll be back as soon as I'm done. Promise. I'll explain when I get home," Raiden reassured his partner firmly. 

"Alright," Kev smiled. "As long as you fill me in on this _secret mission_ of yours eventually." 

"I will," Raiden said firmly. "Trust me. I'll see you in a few hours." 

Both he and Kev knew Raiden would in all likelihood be out all day, but it felt better for both of them to lowball the time estimate. One could always hope. 

"See you in a few hours," Kev nodded, voice reassuring. "Good luck." 

"Thanks," Raiden grinned. "Hopefully I won't need it." 

The call clicked off, Kev's face disappearing as the screen went dark, and Raiden's eyes returned to the road. The car had some lane-assist features, but Raiden felt better doing most of the work himself. 

The drive felt shorter than it was, honestly. This was possibly because Raiden spaced out for most of it, but he hadn't crashed the car or been pulled over so it clearly hadn't been too big an issue. When his internal GPS beeped at him announcing he'd arrived at the target location, he pulled into a nearby parking lot to sort out his game plan with Blade Wolf. 

"This is about as close as i can get with the GPS," Raiden said, shutting off the car. "Sam could be anywhere around here, assuming he hasn't moved since he called you." 

"I could attempt to call him back," Blade Wolf suggested, looking out the window at the empty lot. 

"Sure, go ahead." 

A few moments passed, then Blade Wolf looked up in surprise as the call went through. Blade Wolf played the call over his speaker as he recieved it. 

"Sam," Blade Wolf said immediately. "We are here. Where are you?" 

"We?" Sam said, sounding surprised. "Where are you, I'll come out." 

"We are in the parking lot nearest to the coordinates you sent. The car is black." 

Without a reply, the call ended. Raiden and Blade Wolf looked at each other for a moment before Raiden opened his door and stepped out. After a moment, movement from behind a nearby building caught Raiden's eye. 

"Sam?" he asked, then froze as the figure came out from the alley's shadows. 

It was a cyborg. A cyborg Raiden had never seen before. Instinctively, his hand moved to his back, finding only air as he remembered his sword was still in the car. Shit. 

Before he could panic, the unfamiliar cyborg spoke. The voice that came out had that same slighy metallic echo that Raiden had assumed was just a result of its transmission through Blade Wolf's speakers, but was otherwise unmistakeable. 

"Raiden, it's me," said Jetstream Sam quickly, holding out a hand as if to stop Raiden from attacking as his visor pulled back. Raiden's hand dropped to his side. 

The face beneath the visor was definitely Sam's. This was him. 

"So, you're alive," Raiden said, not bothering with formaities. 

"You came here without knowing that for sure?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised incredulously. 

"Well I'm here, aren't I?" Raiden retorted. "What the hell happened, Sam? I definitely killed you." 

"You did," Sam replied, shrugging, and gave Raiden's body a languid once-over. "You know as well as I do it's not always that simple." 

"So, what? Someone picked you up and stuck your brain in a jar and then just... released you like that?" 

"Well, not... _released,_ per se. I'm not particularly fond of captivity." Sam smirked, as infuriating as always. "I think they were hoping I'd be a nice convenient weapon for them to set on whoever was causing them problems. Not really my _thing,_ if you know what I mean." 

Raiden rolled his eyes, pushing hair out of his eyes and stepping backwards to fall into the driver's seat. 

"Come on, then, Mr. Free Will, get in the car. I'm not just standing in this parking lot all day waiting for you." 

Sam blinked for a moment, as if surprised he'd gotten this far. Raiden raised his eyebrows. Sam got in the car. 

As Sam got settled, clipping his seatbelt across the hard shell of his chest mostly out of habit, Blade Wolf got out of his seat and gingerly stepped over the console to lay on the seat beside Sam, situating his heavy metal head in Sam's lap. 

Smiling as he watched Sam rest a hand on the top of Blade Wolf's head, Raiden started the car. 

This one would be fun to explain to Kev when he got home. 

\- 

Raiden was grateful his neighbours were already so used to seeing weird people in their building. Cyborg-friendly apartment complexes tended to have a lot of weird people coming through, it was part of the deal. God knew if they weren't things would have been a lot more difficult. 

As it was, Raiden made it through the lobby to the elevator with only a casual 'hello' to the few neighbours standing around and a short explanation to one particularly social woman that Sam was a friend coming to stay with him for a bit. 

Raiden studied Sam as the painfully slow elevator crept its way up to the third floor. Although Sam was clearly attempting to conceal it, Raiden could see the effort it was taking to keep himself upright and his movements coordinated. Raiden was reminded sharply of his own recovery after losing his original body. Given the amount of time that had passed since he'd killed Sam, and how long Raiden knew it took, including preparation, to turn someone into a cyborg, Raiden was impressed he was even standing. 

The elevator _ding_ ed, then, and Raiden stepped out, Sam and Blade Wolf following. Raiden could hear the television playing faintly through the door of his apartment as he unlocked it, and smiled. Kev was watching to make sure Raiden didn't do anything dumb enough to make the news. 

"Hey, Kev, I'm back," Raiden called, stepping inside. 

"That was fast," Kev replied from the other room, TV shutting off. "How'd it go?" 

"Fine," Raiden replied. "Better than I expected, actually." 

"Oh, that's g-" Kev stepped into the hallway and cut himself off when he saw who Raiden was with. 

"You're dead," he remarked bluntly, pointing at Sam. 

"Nice to see you too," Sam replied. "I got better." 

"He's a cyborg now, apparently," Raiden clarified. 

"Uh," Kev paused, thinking their situation through before nodding. "Cool. Okay. I trust you Raiden." 

Then, to Sam: "Don't break anything." 

"I will be good," Sam reassured, grinning playfully and raising his hands in mock-surrender. 

"You need anything, then?" Kev asked Sam as if he were any other guest. 

"Some water would be good, I think. They did not really let me drink, at- you know." 

Raiden did know. He remembered vividly how effective water as a reward could be in forcing compliance if someone didn't strictly need to drink. 

"Watch your intake," Raiden warned as Kev handed Sam a glass where he'd sprawled himself out on their living-room sofa with Blade Wolf curled up by his feet. The cup was one of their plastic ones, Raiden noted, with a straw in it. Sam seemed to notice as well, and wrinkled his nose. 

"I am not going to drop it," Sam protested, but Kev glanced pointedly at the way his hands were currently trembling and Sam scowled and shut his mouth, taking the cup. 

"And I'm not stupid, pretty boy," he addressed Raiden. "I'm not just going to slam this, I'd rather not immediately throw up all over your _lovely_ couch." 

"Glad to hear it," Raiden replied. He watched for a moment as Sam drank his water in carefully measured sips before Kev quietly pulled him aside.

"I have to tell you, Raiden," Kev started, voice hushed. "This is not what I expected you to be doing today that was so secret." 

"Honestly? Me neither," Raiden replied. "Apparently he called Blade Wolf for help in the middle of the night, so naturally Bladewolf got me." 

"Naturally," Kev replied. 

"Apparently some people picked his body up after Blade Wolf and I left and tried to turn him into some kind of cybernetic guard dog they could send after whoever they wanted dealt with." 

"So he escaped?" Kev guessed. 

Raiden nodded. 

"So he escaped. And then called the first Codec frequency he could remember for help. Apparently that was Blade Wolf." 

"Cool, okay," Kev replied. "Guess that makes sense. I assume he'll be staying for a bit?" 

"Yeah, if that's alright? He could use the bed in the office." 

"Sure," Kev agreed. Then, placing a hand on Raiden's shoulder, he smiled. "You're a good guy, Raiden. I know you don't like hearing it, but you are. You need to give yourself more credit sometimes." 

Raiden looked away, grateful his body wasn't built to blush. 

"I'm not," he argued halfheartedly, "but thanks. For thinking so." 

"I'll keep thinking so until you believe me and you know it," Kev replied fondly, grinning and giving Raiden's cheek a little tap before pulling his hand away. Despite himself, Raiden couldn't help but smile back.

**Author's Note:**

> might add more chapters at some point but i'm marking this done for now


End file.
